"This is a brief life. But in its brevity it offers us Some splendid moments Some meaningful adventures" Rudyard Kipling

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Take a peek at my week

My photos will give you a peek into the variety of exciting places I’ve been to recently. It has been a most unusual time.

Over the course of 7 days I got in or on 2 planes, 4 underground trains, 4 taxis and countless lifts. Anyone who knows me well or has read my post about my attempted trip to the USA, will know that I find travelling challenging to say the least!

I used to travel all over the world for work, twinning, conferences, pilgrimages, or just pleasure and you can read some of my travel blogs on these links Russia, USA , Lourdes, Kenya , Poland.

But, this time I was heading to Spain for my grandson’s christening. And, with a trusted friend for company, I made it.

We breakfasted in London, spent 3 nights in a gorgeous apartment in the beautiful town of Tres Cantos, attended the Christening in the ancient town of Manzanares el Real, and celebrated with a wonderful family lunch in Madrid.

We managed to do a bit of sight-seeing in each of these very different places, then returned to London and reality.

Tres Cantos is a beautiful ‘new town’, which has been really well planned. The wonderful weather and seemingly perpetual blue sky helps of course. But everywhere was spotless with parks, fountains, and lots of pedestrianised areas. It has the advantage of being close enough to Madrid for commuting too.

Central Madrid, or the small area that we saw, is exquisite. The impressive white buildings gleam in the sunshine and the roads seemed incredibly wide. Here too we found beautiful tree-lined pavements with water features, fountains and statues. Since we were in the city, coincidentally, during the demonstrations in support of a unified Spain, there were Spanish flags flying from many buildings. We were told that one of the flags is the biggest in the world!

We were very impressed to see a huge banner across the front of the Palacio de Communicaciones, which has got to be the most impressive ‘Post Office’ in the world. The banner reads, “Refugees Welcome”.

A little further on and we saw the National Museum of Prado. For almost 200 years this world-famous art gallery has given visitors the opportunity to see the best of the best in painting and sculpture. I would love to go back to spend whole days in there.

So, we relaxed in Tres Cantos, were blown away by the culture of the city of Madrid and its people; but what of Manzanares el Real? Well, 20 plus years ago I visited Yellowstone National Park in America and literally could not believe my eyes. The geology of that place seemed totally other-worldly with its extraordinary geysers, hot springs, mudpots, steam vents, and bubbling rivers. The wildlife too was totally alien to me. I saw bears, bison, moose, elk, antelope, marmots, chipmunks, and even a mountain lion! So I didn’t expect this relatively small and ancient town to surprise me as much as it did. It is truly unusual and spectacularly scenic. I believe the name means ‘Royal Apple Orchard’, and it gives its name to the River Manzanares which flows from the Sierra de Guadarrama, on through Madrid. The ‘royal’ bit comes from the fabulous restored castle which we visited.

The town is set at the foot of a spectacular mountain range called La Pedriza. The whole area is dotted with huge granite boulders which are unusually rounded and smoothed. They are everywhere to the extent that the houses in the area that I visited are just plonked on, in, or around the boulders. This makes for very unusual gardens, and brings a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘man-cave’, as there really are caves in some of the gardens! The whole area is a dream for rock climbers and nature lovers. There are also spectacular views of the huge Santillana reservoir, which attracts large colonies of water birds as well as birds of prey. Higher up among the boulders; I was informed by my son who runs there daily with his dogs; there are red deer, wild cats, wild boar and wolves.

Brenda,
How are you. You may remember sharing a profound personal spiritual experience through commentary at The Oneness of Humanity a few years ago. If you’d be interested in being interviewed and having your (further 🙂 ) insights published (so far Alfred, Santosh and Joe have participated, with a number of men and women committed and forthcoming), here is the simple invitation/proposal:

Let us extend an offer to you and/or your readers to participate in an interview by answering the (5) questions posed to Alfred, Santosh and Joe recently in posts at The Oneness of Humanity. Future posts will carry the same title: “An Interview Of (Your name here)”.
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Question 1.) What was your primary motivation for entering the world of blogging on the worldwide web?
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Question 2.) How would you describe yourself with regard to spirituality?
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Question 3.) What were some of the most memorable transforming points across the years (reactions to world events, books, personal contacts, mystical experiences, etc.) in the developing of your current spiritual perspective?
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Question 4.) What is your greatest wish for readers as a consequence after reading/considering your writings?
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Question 5.) Can you offer any advice to people having a difficult time dealing with government and media lies, especially as it pertains to so many average citizens who hold erroneous perceptions on important events and situations around the Earth?
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If you (or anyone who passes this way – this proposal is open to all) would like to share your (their) thoughts take as many words and as much time as necessary to accurately convey your responses, then – when completely satisfied – email them (please refrain from formatting as it makes it more difficult to copy/paste/edit into a WordPress post) to jerryalatalo (at) hotmail (dot) com, whereupon I will publish each individual’s response as a stand-alone post – with the ultimate goal of inclusion/compiling in a book.

The potential book’s title has yet to become decided upon. There are no rules besides the obvious (no profanity, etc.), no word-count limits (1,000/10,000 words might suffice as a suggested lower/upper limit) or time deadlines (hoping to self-publish soon – Kindle, Smashwords (eBook), Amazon (softcover/paperback) … ), but only honest observations.

Just love Madrid, spent a whole week there September 2016 and a whole day in The Prado for the unique El Bosco exhibition. Two great days out too visiting Toledo and Segovia. Off to Cadiz, Valencia and Barcelona next week on our cruise.